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137
THE SONG OF HÊRÔ.
“Quid juvenis, magnum cui versat in ossibus ignem Durus amor?”
Georgics, lib. iii. 258.
I
I wait my love; for me he travels this waste of water,His love nor the dark, nor the sea, nor the sea-wind bars;
But to-night he swims fast through the golden stream,
The glittering path of the mid moonbeam;
And limbs as white in their lustrous snow
As the snow-white limbs of fair Lêda's daughter,
Dyed deep in the current's girding glow,
Will leap from the waves as from tangled stars.
II
I wait my lover in pride; to them great glory was given,Whom Zeus wooed in golden rain, or wrapped in his flaming breath,
But Danăē shut in her brazen wall,
Or Semêlê scorched by the lightning's fall,
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Like mine, when, the prisoning waters riven,
He drinks the kisses for which full fain
He faces death, and the rear of death.
III
I wait my lover; deep curves through the golden ripples he raises,The moon glows clear on the marble,—Selênê's wake;
On the sacred pathway why will he press,
That the chaste maid loves in her loneliness?
The ocean, hid in forest of night,
Secure for her feet as the woodland mazes
She dreamed, and made, for her own delight,
Sweet tracks that no lover should dare to take.
IV
And yet with glimpse of Leiandros the vision may smite herOf one she slew with her shaft on the ocean verge.
She loved bright Orîon, she loved his song,
As the lonely and silent love, with strong
Life-shattering passion; his sister's fall
Roused the Delian's wrath: let her aim aright her
Keen shaft where the sea was flawed; then call
The bard she had buried beneath the surge.
V
And yet did the fair huntress fall, or but alter in fashion,When her pierced breast taught her the pain of her quiver's dart?
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Who through youth immortal hath ne'er been young?
Nay, pure through noble pain she can heal,
Cleansed from lifeless pride by a sacred passion;
Grand foster-mother of human weal,
She girds, and chastens, and curbs the heart!
VI
But pure to her height, my lover, what hero so perfect hearted?Lo, a king left his sweet girl-guide to wake to her death,
And a prince for a little while found bliss,
Ere he craved the false bride, in Oinônê's kiss.
But the dye of thy faith prints deep the years
Of enrounding time; thy cheek since we parted
Hath been touched alone by impatient tears,
And only glows with my greeting breath.
VII
The gods have stooped to be mortal for love of a mortal maiden,But godlike thou in thy manhood, majestic in might;
By no fragrant curls, by no flashing sign,
Couldst thou grow to my spirit more divine:
For thee there is neither death, nor doom,
For thy heart with the life of love is laden;
From the deep, from the darkness, a double tomb,
I take thee to worship, and warmth, and light.
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VIII
My great queen guards thee, full fond is her thought of the quivering water,That rounded her bosom, that dimpled for sweet desire
The eddies in cheek and chin, with dip
Of steadier curve for the subtle lip
And drooping lids; clear the cradle bays,
And the paths through which to her longing daughter
She leads Leiandros, that lover's praise
May flush her pure altar with flowers and fire.
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